Lee Constable:
Hey everyone. I’m Lee and welcome to Explainer Hacks. Every episode we are going to look at some of the complex things that make up our mental health and wellbeing, and find super creative ways to help us better understand and remember the important stuff. To do this, I’ve challenged some amazing artists to make something in just 45 minutes to help us learn about our mental health using a surprise mystery item. Okay, let’s get into it. Today’s big topic is how puberty changes our brain. Puberty is that time when our bodies grow and change rapidly as we move from being a child to being an adult. The physical changes are easy to notice, but I want to know what happens in inside our brains and why. To help me understand, I’m catching up with Matt Willis, who is a stop motion superstar who makes animations out of paper for a living. Thanks for coming in, Matt.
Matt Willis:
Thanks for having me. Can’t wait to get started.
Lee Constable:
So, today I’m exploring what happens to our brains as we grow. Now, our brains have a massive growth spurt when we are very young, but they don’t keep getting bigger forever. Can you guess how developed our brains are by the time we are six?
Matt Willis:
Look, I’d say maybe a big mango.
Lee Constable:
<Laugh>
Matt Willis:
Something like that.
Lee Constable:
I don’t know what percentage that would be.
Matt Willis:
Yeah. In terms of an adult brain, look, I’ll say 70 per cent.
Lee Constable:
70 per cent? It’s more than that. By the age of six, our brains are actually 95 per cent fully grown. But that doesn’t mean that your brain’s fully matured by then. It needs to be remodeled before it can function as an adult brain. So, this happens during puberty, which usually starts when you’re around eight to 13 years old and doesn’t finish remodeling until we are well into our twenties. Does that resonate with you?
Matt Willis:
The physical change is something that we can all see when we look around at our classmates and our mates and things like that. The mental side of it, it’s really interesting and it’s something that we can talk about these days with a bit more confidence.
Lee Constable:
So, during this period, you undergo a ‘use it or lose it’ process. So, the network our brain uses for communication is either lost or strengthened depending on how much it’s used. And this process is called pruning. So, the end result is that we can think faster, clearer, and deeper, but different parts of the brain prune at different rates. So, the front part is responsible for planning, decision making, and controlling our impulses, and that is actually one of the last parts of the brain to mature. That’s why we’re often more emotional and impulsive. Does that sound familiar to you at all, Matt?
Matt Willis:
You really sort of start to get a sense of wanting to be a bit more creative, wanting to look around and see some new opportunities, have your own thoughts, make your own decisions, spend less time on the stuff that you’re not really interested in, and move towards the things that you are interested in.
Lee Constable:
That all sounds really complicated, but do you reckon that you can build something with your mystery item that will help to show us what our brain looks like before puberty and after puberty?
Matt Willis:
Yeah, absolutely. Is there a mango?
Lee Constable:
We’ll have to find out. Lift that lid.
Matt Willis:
Okay, let’s go.
Lee Constable:
Okay. Tennis ball. What do you reckon?
Matt Willis:
Wow! Yeah. I’ll give it a go.
Lee Constable:
Alright. Well, good luck. You’ve got 45 minutes to create something to help us think about brain development during puberty. Good luck.
Matt Willis:
Thank you. Okay.
Lee Constable:
I’m really intrigued by this. Could you talk me through your creation and how it represents the brain before and after puberty?
Matt Willis:
Absolutely. What I’ve done is I’ve made two things here. This one is the raw product, it’s brand new, just coming into the world as it is. My representation of the brain that you are born with. You haven’t had a chance to grow, you haven’t had a chance to learn and, and change the brain in any way. What I’ve done with this one is I’ve created another version of the brain that looks a bit more like the brain that we’ve most familiar with. Inside there, there’s a core of the brain that’s developing as well. There’s also different gradients along the outside.
Lee Constable:
Yeah. And I can see you’ve even represented that pruning process that we talked about because you used the scissors to, to do actually cutting and pruning of the paper. Now tell me, how did you use the tennis ball?
Matt Willis:
The tennis ball, basically I just coated the tennis ball in some of the marker pens and then rolled it around the surface of the paper. It looks like a brain, and that’s what we’re here for.
Lee Constable:
Thank you so much, Matt. I really appreciate you coming in and making these great creations.
Matt Willis:
Thanks Lee.
Lee Constable:
So, thanks to Matt, we’ve explored what happens to our brains during puberty. Long story short, the brain becomes faster and more powerful because unused connections are pruned away and important ones are strengthened. But all that change means we struggle with our decision making and ability to plan and think about consequences. There’s plenty of support out there, parents, teachers, carers, have a chat to them if you’re struggling or confused so they can help you.